Posted on

October 1, 2025

Champions League 2025-26: The Football Clubs Dominating Influencer Marketing

Winning the Champions League makes a club legendary. It also puts the club's name everywhere. On social media, the players, sponsors and team enjoy a tidal wave of mentions.

But even for teams that don't win, the tournament drives digital conversations. The more buzz they create, the more visibility they gain for sponsors, and the more lucrative the team becomes.

In this article, we compare the 10 most influential clubs in the Champions League. Using Kolsquare’s social listening tool, we’ll explore how each team performs in terms of influencer engagement, content creation, and earned media value (EMV), uncovering which clubs lead the influencer marketing game.

Yes, We Are Champion.

Key Takeaways

The Champions League is a platform for global brand visibility through influencer marketing.
Football clubs use creators and players as key opinion leaders (KOLs) to extend their influence beyond the pitch.
Europe's top club, Real Madrid, generated a huge €660M in EMV over the past year.
The data presented in this article is powered by Kolsquare’s Social Listening tool, which analyses Instagram mentions, influencers, EMV, and engagement.

Why football clubs and brands invest in influencer marketing with players

Top footballers are some of the most famous athletes. Many even have larger followings than Hollywood's biggest stars. Cristiano Ronaldo, for instance, has 665M Instagram followers—double Beyonce’s 309M and a third more than Selena Gomez's 417M.

These celebrity players tend to have high engagement rates (ERs), despite large follower counts, because of fans' deep interest. This indicates that the content reaches and impacts its intended audience.

For example, Chelsea and England player Cole Palmer has 8M followers and a 14% ER on Instagram. That's 10x the average ER (1.4%).

Clubs and brands can grow their audiences and build relationships through these athletes.

Many of the top talent also have targeted audiences by location, age, and gender. Palmer is again a prime example. A third (33.3%) of his followers are British, 86% are male, and 82% are aged between 18 and 34 years old.

With large, engaged audiences, many brands want to advertise through players. Footballers act as fashion influencers in the sportswear and luxury niches.

For example, Hugo Boss recently collaborated with Vinicius Junior and Bradley Cooper to promote its BOSSregconizeBOSS campaign.

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A post shared by BOSS (@boss)

Even beauty brands want a piece of the pie. This year, L'Oréal Paris partnered with Arsenal to boost brand affinity and engagement with male audiences. The strategy was a success, and the beauty brand has extended the partnership into the new season. This reveals the power of football for reaching and impacting audiences.

Methodology: The metrics for ranking the most popular sports teams on social media

To ground this article in real data, we turned to Kolsquare’s social listening tool. We analysed Instagram activity over the past year (September 2024 to September 2025) to identify performance trends.

Specifically, we looked at five core metrics to gauge each team's impact:

Earned Media Value (EMV): The estimated value of how much the buzz created by an influencer campaign would have cost via traditional marketing methods.
KOL volume: The number of creators who mentioned or activated the club.
Content volume: Total number of Instagram Stories, posts, and reels published.
Engagement volume: The sum of all likes, comments, and shares.
Engagement rate (ER): How efficiently content converts reach into interactions. ER is calculated by dividing the number of followers by the number of interactions on a post.

Together, these benchmarks provide marketers with a clear view of how and why each team's content performed.

The best three football clubs by EMV: influencer strategies and content examples

Let's explore the football clubs that generate the most EMV on social media.

Real Madrid: The most-followed football club on Instagram

EMV: €660.55M

KOLs activated: 8.03k

ER: 9.87%

Engagement volume: 433.76M

Content mix: 14.05k Stories, 4.48k Posts, 3.38k Reels

Global superstars, Real Madrid (@realmadrid, 178M followers, Instagram), drove the highest EMV over the past year.

The 15-time Champions League winners were mainly tagged in Stories on Instagram. When it comes to posts and reels, the most valuable content by EMV stems from players, current and past. On Real Madrid's 123rd birthday, ex-player Cristiano Ronaldo created a celebratory post, honouring his time at the club. The post generated €15M in EMV.

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A post shared by Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano)

FC Barcelona: The engagement kings of Instagram

EMV: €597.5M

KOLs activated: 9.57k

ER: 13.16%

Engagement volume: 394.11M

Content mix: 21.09k Stories, 4.95k Posts, 3.37k Reels

FC Barcelona (@fcbarcelona, 144M followers, Instagram) has a best-in-class ER from tagged content. The five-time Champions League winners, and eternal rivals to Real Madrid, generated similar amounts of content, but the overall ER was higher.

Two of the top posts featured the young professional footballer, Lamine Yamal. His carousel post, which shows him wearing an FC Barcelona kit, generated €6M in EMV.

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A post shared by @lamineyamal

Paris Saint-Germain: The content powerhouse with top branding

EMV: €426.65M

KOLs activated: 10.99k

ER: 6.68%

Engagement volume: 221.11M

Content mix: 23.2k Stories, 7.05k Posts, 3.64k Reels

Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) inspired the largest creator pool to post content. That's no surprise, when the team lifted the Champions League trophy for the first time in 2025.

Again, the team's players fueled the buzz. However, as winners, they yielded high engagement from media publications, sponsors, influencers, and celebrity ex-players, including David Beckham.

American influencer Darren Jason Watkins Jr. (@ishowspeed, 40M followers, Instagram) generated €8M in EMV by posting a carousel of images alongside PSG stars after their Champions League win.

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A post shared by IShowSpeed (@ishowspeed)

The rest: fewer activations and posts spark lower EMV

Liverpool: Fan-driven storytelling by the English Premier League fans' favourite team

EMV: €190.28M

KOLs activated: 5.24k

ER: 7.73%

Engagement volume: 125.25M

Content mix: 9.46k Stories, 3.36k Posts, 1.63k Reels

Liverpool FC is the most popular football club in the UK, according to YouGov data. Community-led content drove above-average engagement for the Premier League team. Many posts expressed condolences for Portuguese player and Liverpool forward Diogo Jota, who passed away in July 2025.

Arsenal: Premier League team back in the Champions League draw

EMV: €231.42M

KOLs activated: 5.12k

ER: 9.57%

Engagement volume: 127.98M

Content mix: 9.17k Stories, 4.4k Posts, 2.49k Reels

Arsenal generated an engagement rate with consistent content output across formats. The highest EMV came from a partnered post between Instagram and young Arsenal player Myles Lewis-Skelly.

Inter Milan: Players take centre stage

EMV: €157.02M

KOLs activated: 5.01k

ER: 7.47%

Engagement volume: 75.34M

Content mix: 10.26k Stories, 3.33k Posts, 1.87k Reels

Inter Milan generated over 10k stories and 3k posts thanks to a solid creator base. The post that generated the most EMV was shared by the Champions League's Instagram account, celebrating Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer.

FC Bayern Munich: Precision impact from the Bundesliga team

EMV: €154.61M

KOLs activated: 2.32k

ER: 6.18%

Engagement volume: 76.23M

Content mix: 4.07k Stories, 2.45k Posts, 1.02k Reels

FC Bayern Munich inspired fewer creators, but content had strong resonance across multiple formats. Interestingly, the most popular post tagging the team came from Borussia Mönchengladbach's Instagram account, a competitor.

AC Milan: Serie A team sees lower engagement

EMV: €131.62M

KOLs activated: 3.24k

ER: 5.17%

Engagement volume: 72.86M

Content mix: 5.78k Stories, 2.97k Posts, 1.24k Reels

AC Milan is a legacy club gaining traction with younger digital audiences, with most (79%) of its own followers being between 18 and 34 years old. The post tagging AC Milan with the highest EMV came from Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur.

Manchester City: Lean but effective

EMV: €128.89M

KOLs activated: 1.7k

ER: 5.25%

Engagement volume: 75.42M

Content mix: 2.33k Stories, 1.22k Posts, 547 Reels

Perhaps due to poor results in the Premier League during the 2025-26 season, Man City's tagged content, especially reels, fell short.

Juventus: Community consistency

EMV: €86.92M

KOLs activated: 2.22k

ER: 5.17%

Engagement volume: 40.43M

Content mix: 7.15k Stories, 1.64k Posts, 789 Reels

Juventus maintained steady output and community-driven impact, ensuring relevance. The post that generated the most EMV was from player Paul Pogba.

Top influencers driving Champions League buzz

Let's dive into the accounts driving the most EMV for the Champions League.

433: Football community engages fans with consistent content

EMV: €342.59M

Engagement volume: 190.72M

ER: 1.14%

Content mix: 199 Stories, 173 Posts, 42 Reels

Global football community platform 433 (@433, 77M followers, Instagram) generated high EMV through volume and viral reach. 433 shares multiple posts per day, including football news, memes, transfer updates, and highlights that keep fans engaged worldwide.

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A post shared by 433 (@433)

UEFA Champions League: match clips as Reels

EMV: €283.15M

Engagement volume: 101.25M

ER: 0.33%

Content mix: 93 Stories, 76 Posts, 182 Reels

UEFA Champions League (@championsleague, 121M followers, Instagram) itself generates strong engagement and reach. The content primarily features match clips.

Below, a carousel post features videos of Georgian footballer and PSG winger, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s outstanding moments. The post has 363K likes.

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A post shared by UEFA Champions League (@championsleague)

Robert Lewandowski: Barcelona striker

EMV: €93.99M

Engagement: 47.86M

Engagement rate: 2.21%

Content: 380 Stories, 58 Posts

FC Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski (@_rl9, 38M followers, Instagram) blurs the line between athlete and influencer. He shares carousels featuring bike rides, ads, and romantic moments. There’s also football content, including behind-the-scenes insights and match shots.

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A post shared by Robert Lewandowski (@_rl9)

Jude Bellingham: professional content with a high ER

EMV: €85.57M

Engagement: 68.16M

Engagement rate: 4.81%

Content mix: 68 Stories, 33 Posts, 3 Reels

Jude Bellingham’s (@judebellingham, 40M followers, Instagram) content feels sharp and polished. Despite his professional approach, the footballer maintains an engaged audience, which is no surprise as his star continues to rise.

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A post shared by Jude Bellingham (@judebellingham)

Key insights: how the most popular teams generate engagement

What are the insights from these datapoints?

Volume and engagement

The top teams rely on content volume to drive results. But the content tagging them is also highly engaging.

Football communities like 433 keep audiences engaged by giving fans what they want: consistent, informative content that's never boring.

This reveals that it's not a question of quantity vs. quality, but a combination of both that generates buzz.

Formats matter

The most impactful content came in the form of reels and carousel posts. Exceptional match moments created engagement, but fans are also drawn in by personal, behind-the-scenes snapshots of players' lives.

Comparing European teams by location

This year, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona beat Premier League teams on EMV. Italian clubs, such as Juventus and Inter Milan, exhibit strong KOL activation but lag behind Spanish and French giants in EMV. Interestingly, Real Madrid's legend still beat the excitement of a new team, PSG, taking the trophy.

Quick tutorial: how to access the Kolsquare Social listening module

Getting this data manually isn’t easy—you’ll need tabs of spreadsheets and buckets of time. But with Kolsquare’s Social Listening module, you can easily access deep insights.

Before we walk through accessing the module, if you don’t have the Kolsquare app or Social Listening module, book a demo today. Our team will guide you through how the platform streamlines influencer marketing, providing real-time data visualisations, influencer analysis, competitor analysis and campaign management tools.

Once you have the Kolsquare app, this is how you access the Social Listening module:

Open the Kolsquare platform.
On the right side of the platform, there’s a side menu. The pie chart icon represents the reporting area. When you hover over it, the word “Dashboard” appears. Click the pie chart.
A new page will open. At the top are three menu options: Key Metrics, Instagram Growth, and Listening. Click Listening.
The Listening dashboard will open, showing your current social listening campaigns. To start your first dashboard, choose “+ New dashboard.”
Add a dashboard name, the location you're monitoring, your band handle, and the handle of your competitors. You can track content across TikTok and Instagram. Ensure you add the correct handle for each social media platform.

Once your dashboard is up and running, you can set the time period you want to track by adjusting dates on the top right-hand corner of the dashboard.

Click the Statistics tab for changes over time, share of voice, and KOL sizes. Choose KOLs to view which influencers are generating the most EMV. Or click the Content tabs to view tagged content.

Edit the brands you're tracking at any time by clicking "Edit" in the top left-hand corner of the screen.

What brands sponsor the Champions League?

Many brands sponsor the Champions League, including Heineken, which recently renewed its sponsorship for the 2024-27 cycle, continuing its long-standing relationship.

In addition, PepsiCo also renewed its strategic partnership with the UCL through to 2027. Their campaign activations include “PepCity” in the run-up and during the Final in Munich, VIP guest experiences and a strong focus on on-site activation and hospitality.

Mastercard is another long-term partner of the Champions League. Other Champions League sponsors include PlayStation, Just Eat, and Expedia.

Start social listening to benchmark your brand

Champions League teams compete on social media to stay in the spotlight. Football players serve as team ambassadors, providing sponsors with access to large, engaged audiences.

Wondering how your brand compares to competitors? Access the Kolsquare Social Listening module to find the influencers tagging your brand, content that's making the most impact, and EMV you're generating with just a few clicks. Book a demo today.

About Kolsquare

Kolsquare is Europe’s leading Influencer Marketing platform, offering a data-driven solution that empowers brands to scale their KOL (Key Opinion Leader) marketing strategies through authentic partnerships with top creators.

Kolsquare’s advanced technology helps marketing professionals seamlessly identify the best content creators by filtering their content and audience, while also enabling them to build, manage, and optimize campaigns from start to finish. This includes measuring results and benchmarking performance against competitors.

With a thriving global community of influencer marketing experts, Kolsquare serves hundreds of customers—including Coca-Cola, Netflix, Sony Music, Publicis, Sézane, Sephora, Lush, and Hermès—by leveraging the latest Big Data, AI, and Machine Learning technologies. Our platform taps into an extensive network of KOLs with more than 5,000 followers across 180 countries on Instagram, TikTok, X (Twitter), Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat.

As a Certified B Corporation, Kolsquare leads the way in promoting Responsible Influence, championing transparency, ethical practices, and meaningful collaborations that inspire positive change.

Since October 2024, Kolsquare has become part of the Team.Blue group, one of the largest private tech companies in Europe, and a leading digital enabler for businesses and entrepreneurs across Europe. Team.Blue brings together over 60 successful brands in web hosting, domains, e-commerce, online compliance, lead generation, application solutions, and social media.